Movie Review - Vacation Friends

Reportedly, this film has been in the works since 2005. It got green-lit in 2014 with a screenplay by Tom Mullen and Tim Mullen who probably are brothers. Over the course of five years after that, the film changed actors, directors and writers, finally landing in the hands of Clay Tarver who is credited as a writer and this film's director. Tarver was the writer of the road thriller Joy Ride (2001). He doesn't have much credits over the decade, except being a writer-producer for Silicon Valley (2014). He doesn't have much credits because he's mainly a musician, a guitarist for a rock band. This film stands as Tarver's feature debut. Its type of comedy is way more broad and over-the-top from most of what's in Silicon Valley. However, how it's rendered never feels funny. It's mostly annoying, which is the point at times, but it doesn't make it entertaining. The whole thing gets derailed though with a very problematic moment that isn't really addressed properly.

Lil Rel Howery (Free Guy and Get Out) stars as Marcus Parker, the owner of a construction company in Atlanta who goes with his girlfriend on a trip to Mexico. His plan is to propose to his girlfriend. He's planned a surprise at the four-star hotel. He's bought the rings. He's ready to go. His only issue is that he knows his girlfriend's father doesn't like him. Marcus feels as though because he's divorced and because he doesn't come from wealth or has achieved wealth at his age, his future father-in-law doesn't approve. He has to learn to accept who he is and what he has, rather than living up to certain expectations.

Yvonne Orji (Insecure and A Black Lady Sketch Show) co-stars as Emily Conway, the girlfriend to Marcus. She works in finance and comes from a family that is wealthy or certainly successful. It's not clear how she met Marcus. It's not clear how or why she is in love with him. Her family feels more bourgeoisie, whereas his family feels more ghetto. The film is about the two of them getting married, but the film never convinces us about their love story.

Their trip in some ways feels like Marcus trying to impress Emily with a trip that feels wealthy in order to give her something that she would be more accustomed. Yet, she expresses that she doesn't need to be impressed that way. She just wants to be with him. However, things change when they run into another couple who appears to be wealthy and is offering them wealthier accommodations. Those socioeconomic issues don't play that much into this film. It seems to be more about the devil-may-care attitude from the other couple that is meant to be attractive.

John Cena (The Suicide Squad and F9: The Fast Saga) also co-stars as Ron, a park ranger from Oregon who is also vacationing with his girlfriend, Kyla, played by Meredith Hagner (Search Party and As the World Turns). Yes, they are very much devil-may-care and very much happy-go-lucky in their way of life. They have things about them that are serious and bring them down, but, they never really express that. For the most part, they are just balls of optimism, always positive, but always pushing for things that go beyond certain boundaries, which seem to be about testing the limits on friendship.

That would have been enough for a comedic premise, but this film goes one step further or in a direction that seems to undermine whatever test of friendship this film wants to be. Tarver's film has something happen to Marcus and Emily that never gets properly addressed. The film dwells on it for a large chunk and then has it explode for maximum comedic effect. However, the ramifications of what happened to Marcus and Emily doesn't get addressed properly in terms of what it means or what it might mean. The film shrugs it off, as some people might shrug it off. If this idea was conceived 16 years ago or even 5 years ago, I understand, but Tarver directed this film in the wake of the Me Too Movement and in the wake of a film like Promising Young Woman (2020). For this film not to address what happens to Marcus and Emily feels irresponsible.

Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert!

After a week of drinking and partying in Mexico, Marcus and Emily have a wild night with Ron and Kyla. Marcus gets so wasted that he passes out on the couch. It's then implied that Kyla gets on top of Marcus and has sex with him, while Marcus is half conscious and indeed after he blacks out. In Promising Young Woman, this is the setup for critiquing rape culture. After not seeing them for seven months, Kyla shows up pregnant and Marcus believes he's the father of her baby. This is also the premise in Coming 2 America (2021). Eddie Murphy's character and Howery's character are essentially raped, but the film never acknowledges it as such. Promising Young Woman went out of its way to show that it is a form of rape. Yet, this film demonstrates the double-standard that when it happens to men, it's not considered a sexual assault.

There is a reversal when it's revealed that Marcus didn't have sex with Kyla. Actually, Emily was the one who had sex with Kyla but they simply did so on top of Marcus while he was partially passed out. However, with that being the case, this film never addresses this aspect. Emily has sex with a woman, but her sexuality is basically brushed over. I'm not saying that we needed to see any homophobia. I just wanted to see a conversation about it. Her reluctance to talk about it represents a bit of internalized homophobia, but we have no clue if Emily liked it or not. We don't know who initiated the sex. We don't know how drunk Emily was or how drunk Kyla was to know if either qualifies for Promising Young Woman and the premise there. The film completely skips over questions, which then makes that encounter problematic.

Yet, there's another wrinkle. By the end of this film, we're meant to believe that Marcus and Emily should be friends with Ron and Kyla. At first, I thought this film might be a version of I Love You, Man (2009), which was about a grown man who had trouble making friends with fellow male adults. I thought it might be about how both Marcus and Emily have trouble making friends. That's not the case. Marcus has a slew of friends. His problem is that he compartmentalizes them, but we don't get a sense of his daily or even weekly social life. Emily's circle of friends is completely ignored. She must have had bridesmaids, but we never learn who they are. However, if Ron and Kyla are meant to be their true friends, there's plenty to contradict that. Kyla had sex with Emily after Emily married Marcus. Friends normally don't have sex with each other's spouses. Friends don't normally commit adultery with their friend's spouses. I'm not against the idea of being sex positive and having "friends with benefits" but, again, not to have a conversation about it feels disingenuous and that it was done for a lame joke, one that undercuts the idea of them being true friends.

Rated R for drug content, crude sexual references, and language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 43 mins.

Available on Hulu.